HACKSAW RIDGE Receives Six Oscar Nominations including Best Picture. Opens Locally on Feb. 22

Imagine if you were a soldier in World War II and we told you you cannot carry any weapons onto the battlefield, do you think you would have survived? Probably not. But "Hacksaw Ridge" is the extraordinary true story of Desmond Doss who, during the bloodiest battle of the war, survived without firing or carrying a gun and saved 75 lives to boot. He was the only American soldier in WWII to fight on the front lines without a weapon, as he believed that while the war was justified, killing was nevertheless wrong. As an army medic, he single-handedly evacuated the wounded from behind enemy lines, braved fire while tending to soldiers and was wounded by a grenade and hit by snipers. Directed by Mel Gibson, "Hacksaw Ridge" stars Andrew Garfield, Teresa Palmer, Vince Vaughn, Hugo Weaving, Rachel Griffiths, Luke Bracey and Sam Worthington.

An unwavering Seventh Day Adventist, Desmond Doss was living in Virginia when he voluntarily enlisted in the U.S. Army. He had no interest in fighting, but rather Doss wanted to serve as a “non-combatant” medic. It was not a path with which the military was familiar, but Doss persisted. Skinny, vegetarian and unwilling to train on Saturdays let alone carry a gun, Doss was initially ridiculed and abused by his compatriots and they even tried every way they could to drive him out of the army. But Doss persisted all the way to Okinawa, where his unit was ordered to take part in the near-impossible capture of the massive Maeda Escarpment – aka Hacksaw Ridge. Atop this steep, looming 400-foot cliff lay heavily fortified machine-gun nests, booby traps and Japanese soldiers in caves who vowed to fight to the end.

The film has received acclaim and has earned a total of six Academy Award nominations including Best Picture, Best Actor (Andrew Garfield), Best Director (Mel Gibson), Best Film Editing, Best Sound Editing and Best Sound Mixing. The 89th Academy Award will be presented on February 26 at the Dolby Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center.

Opening across the Philippines on February 22, 2017, Hacksaw Ridge will be distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures International.